Page 6 of Twisted Empire

All mine.

“She’s nothing but trash, believe me,” Dad went on, patting me on the back. “Besides, we had to get rid of her after we saw her test results.”

I frowned. “Test results?”

He lifted his brows. “Oh, of course. I didn’t mention this earlier, did I?” He paused, lips quirked up in amusement. “Tatum is pregnant. That’s why she’s been sick lately. Not a bug.”

Time itself seemed to stop as his words registered with me.

My heart was still beating, but it was against a chest that felt hollow. My eyes were still focusing, but the room that was so close suddenly seemed far away. My mind was shutting down, unwilling to comprehend anything for a moment.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I finally said, an edge creeping into my voice.

“She’s pregnant. Her latest Depo shot must’ve failed at some point. So obviously, you can see why our desire to get rid of her is so urgent.”

He chuckled again. My jaw tightened as rage surged through me, and my fingers curled into fists. I felt more animal than human.

I wanted to drag my father to the ground and kill him. He was so fucked up that he actually found amusement in the thought of hunting down and murdering a pregnant woman. One who was pregnant with my child, no less. His own grandchild.

Sick fuck.

I quickly forced a deep breath into my lungs. Flying into a rage and betraying my true feelings wouldn’t help Tatum now. Despite all the shit that was being heaped upon us, I needed to stay calm. I needed to do it for her.

“Why kill her for that?” I asked, trying my best to keep a steady tone. “You got a slave pregnant, and you ended up with me. Am I so disappointing that it would make you do things differently now?”

He shook his head. “That was different. Like I said earlier, Camille came from a decent family. Good stock. Not borderline trailer trash like Tatum. If we let her have your child, you’d be stuck raising it, and it would cause nothing but trouble for us in the future, courtesy of her shitty genes. It’s better that we nip the problem in the bud before it’s too late.”

What a load of bullshit.

“I see,” I said in a low voice.

He frowned. “And before you ask: no, we won’t simply terminate the pregnancy and let her live so that you can continue owning and training her.”

“Why?”

“We need prey for the hunt. Also, you might not agree with this, but I personally think abortion taints a woman’s mind. Especially if it’s forced, for obvious reasons. And the last thing we need is more insane behavior from that little bitch. So I’m sorry, but she’s our choice for the hunt, as much as you might object.”

Christ. I gritted my teeth. “Right. Does she have any idea she’s pregnant?”

“Yes. I told her a few minutes ago. You should’ve seen her reaction.” He snorted with laughter. “Your little plan to make her fall for you was actually starting to work. Get this: she looked right in my eyes and said that you loved her, and that you’d help her and the baby. The look on her face when I tore down all her ridiculous perceptions and told her you were lying to her all along… it was perfect.”

My chest tightened. “What do you mean?”

He grinned. “I told her about your plan. How you were tricking her into thinking you cared about her and loved her, all so you could destroy her.”

Fuck.

Venom filled my tone. “Why the hell would you tell her that?”

My father looked puzzled. “Why not? It hardly matters now. She’ll be dead soon, so it’s not like you can continue with the plan.”

As he spoke, his fingers curled tightly around a white napkin that sat before him on the bar. I could see his spine snapping in my mind, could feel my fist smashing into his nose, splattering the napkin with blood as I broke his face apart. What an improvement that would be.

“I know, but I wanted to be the one to tell her. To destroy her,” I forced myself to say through gritted teeth. “Now you’ve taken that away from me.”

In reality, all he’d taken away was my progress with Tatum. She needed to trust me and believe that we were on the same side in order for me to help her, but now she might never get there, because my father had ruined our tentative relationship in one fell swoop. That meant rescuing her would be even harder than I initially thought.

Shit.

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